Budgeting help needed!

DH and I are moving out of our little flat where we have it pretty good!(mum and dads). We are moving into a 3 bedroom house, and my brother is renting with us, he will pay $100 of the rent and DH and I $200.

DH and I don't get a lot of money each week and we have quite a few bills until the end of the year. So basicly, after we have paid rent, our weekly payments(this includes putting money away for the power bill at the end of the month) we will have about $240 left, This needs to get us grocery's and a little bit of petrol. At the moment we live 15 mins out of town, so we pend a lot on petrol and shop at New World, we are moving into town(pukekohe for those who know auckland) so we will be a 2 min drive and short walk from all the shops, and puke has pack and save yay!

Do you think its possible to live off $240?? and not get stuck and be stressed and stuff? We need formula for Caden each week until he is one, then I will be using normal milk powder for him, and I now use cloth nappies, and a sposie at night for caden.

What are some good budgeting tips??



Edited by Sheza

$240 a week for food and petrol seems like loads! SD, Issy and I spend $130 a week on food, I use $40 gas and SD about half of that, so you should have plenty. (Unless your DH eats LOOOOOADS) lol

$240 a week is what we will have left in our account, so I was thinking we would try to keep out grocery's to $80 $100 at the most, and then Id only need about $30 petrol a week...

The rest id like to keep in our account IF we need it, cos I want to try and get a wee build up, something to fall back on..

Thats a good idea Julia
So each night before shopping I will write myself a list of what I need to buy for dinners for the week etc.   And any money I left over from my food budget I'll put away into another account or something for emergency's.

I will get our meat and fruit from fruit world and the mad butcher, heaps cheaper most of the time!

I think I'm just stressing a little lol it will be our first home away from my parents(yep at 26 lol) but Im excited! Just lots of tips of budgeting would be great

DH wants to have the internet so hopefully we can find a good deal with slingshot or something...

Our phone and internet is about 90.00 a months (although you can get a cheaper plan) .. so thats only 25 a week.

I would see how much it costs to feed you for awhile then you will see how much you constantly have left over .. then you will have an amount to work with in regards to other items you may want such as internet, sky, mobile plans etc.

Sheza, also try going to Budget Advice - I am sure they will have one in your area. They can help you to set a realistic budget and see where you are overspending. It is not just for people are not managing, heaps of people go there for just for advice on how to save and better to get help before you need it. They can also give you advice on the entitlements you might not know about.

You can also use sorted.org.nz to create your own budget IF you feel confident enough -but maybe if this is the first time living away from home a trip to budget advice would be really good!

PS $80-100 a week for groceries for two adults does not seem a lot unless you are going to be having a vege garden or getting food from other sources. There is no point scrimping on food if it means that one or the other of you gets sick and then spend more money on Dr vists, medication blahblah!

lilfatty wrote: Oh and dont forget you to check that you are getting your full entitlement in regards to accomodation supplement.

I was just thinking that whilst having my shower lol! Once we are in the house I will get proof of our rent and go into winz, hopefully l that will help us out!

Thanks sabrina

We get 140 a week from WFF, so thats cool, I havent applied for an accommodation allowance though, will do that for sure.

I always shop on a Wednsday, so im good there, but I buy a lot of crap we dont need lol, so I need to start writing a list and sticking to it and keeping it within our budget.

Thats a great idea about the power!

you dont need to wait till you move to apply for the accom supp - you just make an appointment (you actually may not need app) and take in your tenancy agreement once you have signed it.

If you are in a higher area (like auckland which you are) and are on a lower income (have no idea if you are?) then you will get a good help.

We are in a lower area (bay of plenty) so ours is less - we have a mortgage though rather than rent and are apparently not considered low! (ppfff i feel low on funds this weeks! ) and we get $55 a week.

Also maybe you could give that budget a trial run while you are still in the current house.

Ooh yeah I definitely recommend making a list now of all the store cupboard type things you need and cleaning products and starting to get those together now while you're paying cheaper rent if you will need them.

When I was home for 3 months last year I flatted with my sister and for 3 adults we put in $30 each/week for groceries and some weeks we had money left over and we ate REALLY well. That was excluding meat so I would say for around $100-120/week you would be eating well if you plan your menu before you go shopping.

It's probably different in different parts of the country, but vodafone had a good home phone/internet package going last year for a lot less than the Telecom equivalent.